Machine for sowing seed



Oct. '13, 1925. l '1,556,850 h G. K UHNE IACHINE FOR SOWING SEED Fil'ed llarch 29. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l 21 i Flea# G'. KHNE oet. 15, P1924;..

Immun Fon sowma slnln` 11nd Maron 29. 1924 z nuts-shut 2 aal-1" dill l /nven/ur:

o 'ver the pre two transport wheels 1 fast on an axle 2 Patented oci. is, i925.

1,556,850' r oF-ri'cE..

Gaone :zum or xomesnnne, emma- I uacnnm ron sownre simu.Y

'application nica zum aa, im. serial im. 70am.

To all 'whom it camera.'`

Beit known that I, Grone Ki'inNr., a German citizen', residing at Konigsberg, Pr., Germany, have. invented new and useful Improvements in a Machine for Sowing Seed, of which the following is a specicatio v The invention relates to a machine for sowing corn or the like grain by which as a mobile machine can be rawn singly in eac individual row with a predetermined equal spacing, whereby the tplants growing from the isolated seeds are a orded most generous growing conditions, namely an ample spacing and correct .depth in the earth for germination.

In the new machine one or more chain driven sowing wheels prro'vided with a number of buckets having spoon-like devices conforming to the'shape of the seed are driven through a supply of seed. Surplus-seeds fall back by avity to the suppl receptacle and ultimate y only a sin le seed7 is retained by each spoon and ejecte through an aperture in the wheel casing. The seeds are isolated and deposited by one mechanism and an auxiliary device need not be employed to cause the rejected seeds to pass back to the sowing wheel.

In orderl that the seeds may be planted at the correct depth in the ground, an wdjustable furrowing device is ovided.

The sowingwheel can beraised or lowered into inoperative or operative position by lever and quadrant means in known manner.

The appended drawings show an example` of corn separating and sowing machine according to the invention. l

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a machine capable of sowing six ro s simultaneously; Fig. 2 is a part sectignal view of sowing wheel with feedin hopper andV car'- rier; Fig. 3 is a section onine A`B lof Fig. 2;. Fig. 4 is an elevation showing the. con. trolling mechanism; Fig. 5 is a view of a modified form of wheel from that shown in Fig. 2; Fig. -6 is a section on line C`D of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary View of a cell of the sowing wheel.

The carriage of the machine comprises upon which the Aframe 3 is pivoted. This carries a box 4 for the supply of seed, having an inclined rear wall, provided with a rain,

ared eld to deposit-the seeds l a furrowing tbol 21 and also a shoe 22 upon 'the seeds. The partitions 27 are, as shown in Fig.

number of slides 5 which when open allow seed to escape. In the frame 3 is horizontally arranged a rod 6'- u on which pivot arms 7 carrying the cylindrical wheel casings 8. The arms 7 are supported by rollers 11 having pivots 10 adjustable in .slots 9 vhe'eby the depth of furrowmay. be reguy'ate In each wheel casing 8 is rotatably mount'- ed a shaft 12 upon which is xed thesowing wheel 13. The` drawin s show one wheel in each casing, but more t an lone could be arranged in a suitable casing if desired. The shaft 12 is driven by chains 14, whereof' the chain wheels 15, 151 are respectively mounted upon the sowing wheel shaft 12 and a driving shaft 16 journalled upon theframe 3 and driven from axle 2 by chain drive 17 Aand chain wheels 18, 181. Attached to each wheel casing 8 is a feeding hopper 19 for the seed which leavesby a duct 20 to between the wheel 13 and casin 8. To the under side of the housing is fixe a chain 2 3 serving to cover over the seed trench.

The sowing wheel casing 8 is strengthened at Yits periphery by a ring 24 which enables the thin iron casing to retain its form without' the use `of clips, and near: the lowestl point is an aperture 25 for the discharge of the seed. The,wheel 13 running within the casing is built as a bucket wheel, the cells or buckets being formed b a disk 26 fast upon shaft 12, partitions 2 v and a ring 29, and also has a partition 28 adapted to shut olf a portion of the inner circumference." Disk 26 and rin 29 converge towards their outer edges to acilitate the depositing of 7 each rovided with a spoon-like portion 271 con orming to theshape of a single seed, which in this case is of longish shape, but for round seeds would be practically hemispherical. To assist in the introduction 100 of a seed of this elongated shape the cell walls 27 are each provided with a' recessed portion 2711. The artition 28 is adjustable concentrically of t e axle 12 by means of 281, liv-nut' 2811 and slot 3 0 inathe cas- '105 ing 26. Fig. 2 shows the partition iii working position, the dotdash lines showin the position for eiiifptying.4 the' contents, o the casing. A corrugated wheel 31 keyed upon shaft. 12 within the casing serves to prevent 112 7 spobns 271 to assist in removing .surplus seeds.`

The arm 7jcan be moved into operative or inoperative position (indicated by full and dot-dash lines respectively in Fig. 4)' by means of lever 33 moving over quadrant 34 and connected to said arm by a chain 35. The supporting roller 11 (Fig. 2) may also be utilized as a urrower as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.- In this case a sharp-edged disk 36 is rotatable upon an eccentric 37 of the ,1.5 axle 39 carried by the cheeks 38, 381 of the arm 7, the two rollers 40, 401 riding over` the edges of the seed vfurrow produced by the disk 36. By slackening the securing bolts 41, 411, the position of the eccentric may be adjusted to give the desired depth of' furrow by means of a key applied to the squared end 42 of the axle. i

Fig.` 5 shows the partition '28 somewhat modified from that shown in 2 and cunsists of a semi-cylindrical rlng mounted upon the sowing wheel casing The operation of the machine is as ollows: I j l The arms 7 are placed in inoperative position by moving lever 33 over quadrant 34.

The casings 8 are charged withl seed from the supply box 4 by means of the slides 5,

the partition 28 being in position as shown in Fig. 2. The position of the roller ,11 or of the eccentric 37 is adjusted so that the furrowing tool 21 presses 'more orless deep in the earth as desired. Upon moving the machine forward by animal or me-r chanical traction, vthe lever 33 being in the position shown in Fig. 4, 'the sowing wheels -are rotated in the direction indicated by arrow E by means of thel chain drives 14.

17. In each casing the bucket partitions 27 vabstract seed from the supply and the seed not retained bythe spoons 271 falls back lnto the `casing till,V as shown in Fig. 2, the topmosi; cell carries only two seeds of which the upper is dislodged by the striker 32. '.lhe single seed thus retained by the spoon 1s then caused by gravity to -fall against the circumferential wall of the casing and thus through the aperture 25 into the fur- -row prepared by the tool 21 and disk 36,

being finally covered over bythe shoe 22. According to the gear of the chain drives the spacing of the seeds in the rows may be diierent.

The emptying of the casings, after bringing them into inoperative or raised position` l diamond formation i. e. alternately in ad- A is effected by placingthe dpartition 28 in the dot-dash position shown in Fig. 2.

Should it be desired to sow the-'seeds in jacentrows, it is only necessary to displace adjacent sowing wheels relatively by half a cellspacei'" 't The above described sowing apparatus, being iitted with a supply box fory the seed and aseparate and complete sowing device for each row, can be used to sow rows of various arrangements and distances apart. f.

It is to be understood that I, may employ any"suitable type of furrow opening and covering mechanism in conjunction with the improved seed selecting and depositing means hereins'hown and described, though' I prefer to employ the means herein illustrated.

I claim:

1. Machine for sowing ,seed comprising in combination a hopper, a bucket wheel 'roi tatably mounted within a casing, a seed receptacle in communication with said hopper, an adjustable partition for separating a plurality of the buckets from the seeds in said seed receptacle and for emptying the seed receptacle.

2. Machine for sowing seed comprising in combination a hopper, a bucket wheel ro-` tatably mounted within a casing consisting of a di'sc, an annulus and a plurality of radialv partitions therebetween adjacent 4the periphery, the inner end of each partition being provided with a spoonlike device re-y taining a single seed and a recessed portion for guiding a single seed on saidspoonlike device. A

' 3. Machine for sowing seed comprising in combination a hopper, 4a bucket wheelrotatably mounted within a casing, a seed receptacle in communication with said hopper,

\gle seeds, and a spring actuated striker for Iremoving surplus seeds.

4. In a machine of the character described the combination with .a circular casing, of

a 'bucket wheel rotatable therein and comprising a plurality of radial partitions the outer ends of which rotate in contact with said casing andI theyinner ends of which are spaced from each other to leave open passages through which seeds may pass from the inner periphery of the bucket wheel toI the outer periphery thereof, the inner end' of each partition being lprovided with a spoonlike seed ,retaining portion, an aperture in the' lower part of said casing through which seeds are discharged, a partition within said casing forming the lower wall of the seed receptacle and means for adjusting the angle of inclination of saidf partition.

5. In a machine of the character described the combination with a circular casing, of a bucket wheel rotatable therein and co'mprising a plurality' of radial partitionsthe inner endsf of which are provided with spoonlike seed retaining port-ions, a seed com artment'located withinthe interlor of the ucket wheel, means for feeding seeds into said compartment and means for 7. A structure as recited in claim 5 in' combination .with an agitator rotatable within the compartment and movable with the bucket wheel.

8.I A structure as recited in claim 5` in- 'combina'tiou with 4a movable bottom for the compartment, means adjusting said bottom from the exterior of the compartment, and an agitator rotatable within the compartment.

9. In a device of the character described the combination with a circular casing, of

a seed hopper,

a bucket Wheel mounted for rotation therein and comprising a pair of spaced annuli, a plurality of radial partitions, constituting buckets disposed between said annuli and passages between said partitions extending from the inner to the outer periphery of the bucket wheel, the space within the bucketvwheel constituting a seed chamber, means for conducting seed ported from the casing,

from the ho per to the Vseed compartment and a mova le bottom for the compartment having a portion'shaped to conform to the curvature of tlieinner periphery of the bucket wheel. f

l0; A structure as .recited in claim 9, in combination withl means for adjusting the position of the movable bottom trom the exterior of the casing. y 11. A structure as recited in claim 9, in combination with a centrally disposed drive `shaft and a toothed agitator thereon.

12. A devicel of the character described comprising a circular casing, a bucket wheel in the form of an annulus, 'mounted for rotation therein and-co1 prising a plurality of spaced buckets each having 'a seed carrying compartment and a yieldable element located inside of the lbucket wheel and supthe free end of which engages the inner ends of said buckl ets to snap past themas they rotate .and thereby impart a series of blows to the bucket/wheel to dislodge surplus seedsfrom the buckets.

GEORGE KHNE. 

